


After a Long Day

by Relh99



Series: While We Wait [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24195607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relh99/pseuds/Relh99
Summary: All of the sides have ways that they like to relax after a long day. Virgil slowly starts to learn how Logan, Roman, and Patton destress despite not being part of their group. They don’t interact normally, so why are they okay with him joining them in their relaxation time? And why isn’t he turning them down?(The gradual process of Virgil slowly warming up to the ‘light sides’ and in turn, them warming up to him. Takes place between “Loosing My Motivation” and “Accepting Anxiety Part 1.” Is part 3 of a series but can be read on its own).
Series: While We Wait [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742587
Comments: 43
Kudos: 112





	1. Puzzles

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be a one-shot focusing on how the sides answered “What do you do to relax after a long day?” In the Q&A video, but then Logan’s part turned into a full chapter so here we are.
> 
> To the people who are new to the “While We Wait” series, these are literally just fics that I write in between updates from Thomas that are all connected but have no real order. You don’t have to read any other parts to understand this.

It was strange to see Logan look so... well, defeated wasn’t the right word, but it was the closest thing Virgil could think of. The logical side didn’t express emotions well, so while nothing on his face gave away how he was feeling, the fact that he had been standing in the kitchen just staring into his coffee mug for going on ten minutes now was unusual. Also the fact that he was drinking coffee at 2 am was beyond weird. Wasn’t Logan the one who constantly tried to convince Thomas to go to bed at 10 pm? 

“You good?” Virgil asked, grabbing a purple Gatorade out of the fridge. Logan jumped, spilling some of his coffee onto the floor.

“Gosh darn it,” he sighed. Logan set him mug down and began searching for what Virgil assumed were the paper towels. “Anxiety. I didn’t see you come in.”

“Been here for a bit now, teach,” Virgil said. He grabbed a rag and began cleaning up the coffee spill. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m fine,” Logan said. He grabbed the paper towels and turned around only to find the spill already taken care of. “Oh. Thank you, Anxiety.”

“Don’t hear that too often,” Virgil chuckled. He tossed the rag into the sink before focusing back on Logan. “Also, ‘I’m fine?’ You can’t lie to me, Logan. Did you forget I hang around Deceit all day?”

“I’m not lying,” Logan lied. “In order to not be fine, one would need to be experiencing negative emotions regarding something. I do not deal with emotions, therefore I cannot be not fine.”

“Hm, solid logic there,” Virgil hummed, not believing what Logan was saying for a minute. Didn’t matter really, they weren’t close. “Let me rephrase then. You still thinking about what happened earlier?”

Logan frowned and picked up his coffee mug, downing half of it before setting back down and leaning back against the kitchen counter. “Yes, I’ve been... reflecting on the mistakes I made in an attempt to prevent them from repeating in the future.”

“And chugging coffee at 2 am is part of your reflection process?”

“The caffeine clears my head,” Logan sighed. “I’m just not used to being the cause of Thomas’ issues.”

Virgil chuckled. “Yeah, that’s normally my job.”

“You are aware that we all know you don’t work alone, right?” Logan asked. “Just because you’re the one who decided to show himself to Thomas first doesn’t mean you’re solely responsible for all of his issues. Heck, today proved I can be the issue! Who knew? Not me! But I should’ve.”

“Yeah, I’m cutting you off, your thoughts are spiraling just a bit and I don’t want to deal with that,” Virgil said, taking Logan’s coffee mug. Thankfully, teach didn’t argue as Virgil poured the remaining coffee down the sink. “You want a water bottle instead?”

“May I ask what you’re doing?” Logan muttered, his voice softer than before. Virgil gave him a confused look while grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge and sliding it across the counter.

“What do you mean?”

“I told you I am fine, and us interacting outside of Thomas’ living room is a rarity.” Logan picked up the water bottle and took a drink. “So why are you here talking to me?”

Virgil shrugged, not really sure himself. “I don’t know. You just looked like you needed someone to talk to.”

Logan chuckled weakly. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Don’t tell the others, I’ve got a reputation to uphold,” Virgil smirked. “My friends already aren’t too happy with me going up to see Thomas face-to-face. Can’t imagine the fit they’d throw if they found out I actually helped you out.”

“Well, we don’t want that now, do we?” Logan hummed, taking another drink of his water.

The two stood there in the dimly lit kitchen, sipping their drinks in silence for a moment, just appreciating each other’s company. Things had been rocky at best with Remus and Janus lately, more so than usual, so being able to share a space with someone who wasn’t constantly attempting to deceive or mentally scar him was a nice change of pace. 

“You’re Thomas’ anxiety,” Logan said after a bit.

Virgil nodded. “Thanks for reminding me, I had forgotten.”

“Do you mind if I ask you for a piece of advice?” Logan asked, ignoring Virgil’s smart-ass commentary. 

“Shoot.”

“When your thoughts start spiraling... how do you refocus?” 

Virgil couldn’t say he was surprised by the question. Logan was used to always being focused, always being right, being viewed as a good guy, albeit a tad boring, but good nonetheless. The loss he had earlier in the day was clearly eating up at him. Why the other two weren’t here comforting him instead of Virgil was strange. He had assumed the other three sides were close, polar opposites of Virgil, Janus, and Remus. 

“Personally, I go lay on the roof and listen to music,” Virgil said. “But I’d recommend finding something you enjoy that you can focus solely on for awhile. You got something mindless that you enjoy?”

Logan thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Puzzles.”

“Go do a puzzle,” Virgil suggested. “Mindless enough that you can turn your brain off, but also engaging enough to hold your focus.”

“I do have this 2,000 piece puzzle that Patton got me last Christmas that I never got around to,” Logan muttered. 

“Go get it, I’ll meet you in the living room,” Virgil said. Logan gave him a confused look and Virgil paused. He had gotten so comfortable he had forgotten who exactly he was talking to. “I mean, unless you’d rather do it alone. I know some people like company when their thoughts are spiraling, but if you’d rather do the puzzle alone I can leave, that’d probably be better anyway honestly, you know, with Deceit and Remus not exactly liking you guys, or me hanging out with you guys-“

“I’ll see you in the living room, Anxiety,” Logan said, cutting him off. 

Virgil nodded. “Right.”

Logan left to go grab the puzzle while Virgil stayed behind, thinking about what just happened. Someone actually wanted to be in his company? Willingly? He shook his head and grabbed Logan’s water bottle for him before heading into the living room and taking a seat on the floor. He leaned against the couch and set the water bottle on the coffee table. He took a drink of his Gatorade and waited. It was nearing 2:30 am, so he didn’t have to worry about Janus or Remus walking in. Janus kept to a pretty tight sleep schedule surprisingly enough, and Remus already did his 1:27 am snack run. The only thing Virgil had to worry about was Princey or Patton walking in and questioning what he was doing there.

Before his own thoughts could spiral too far out of control, Logan sat down across from him and opened up the puzzle box. It had a cute puppy and kitten on the cover. Definitely a gift from Patton.

“What are your rules for doing puzzles?” Logan asked. 

“Uh, I wasn’t aware there were rules to puzzles,” Virgil admitted. Logan scoffed and flipped the box upside down. 

“I don’t allow myself to look at the reference image beforehand,” Logan explained. “And to start, one should always separate the corners and edge pieces from the center pieces. Then you construct the border before tackling the center. Since there’s two of us, one of us can do the boarder and the other can focus on the center after we get everything organized.”

Virgil nodded slowly, trying to follow along. “Got it. I think.”

Without saying anything else, Logan dumped the pieces onto the coffee table and got to work. Virgil started picking through, setting the border pieces off to the side. It didn’t take them too long to get everything separated since they were both looking through the pieces. Once both piles were finished, Logan looked up at Virgil, his face a little too serious.

“Do you want the border or the center?” Logan asked.

“This is your relaxing task, you pick,” Virgil said.

“Hmm,” Logan hummed, glancing at both piles. “Completing the border pieces First is normally how I do puzzles on my own, so I wouldn’t be breaking my own pattern of doing things. However, the center pieces definitely take more focus to complete and therefore would be more beneficial in regards to taking my mind off of earlier,” he mumbled under his breath, mostly to himself. Virgil waited for Logan to make his decision and glanced at his phone. 3 am. He hadn’t expected to spend his night doing a puzzle with one of the other sides, but here he was.

“You take the border, I’m going to focus on the center image,” Logan eventually decided. Virgil nodded and the two fell back into their work, putting pieces together in silence. Out of all of the sides, Virgil guesses Logan wasn’t too bad. Boring and a bit too strict at times, but he knew when to be quiet, and when the majority of Virgil’s day is spent in the presence of Remus, well, quiet was a trait he’d come to appreciate. 

It took him a while to finish the border, but once the last corner was in place, he shifted to help Logan move some of the center pieces over. Virgil had gotten so absorbed in the process of sorting through and connecting pieces that when he paused to take a drink and looked up, he jumped and hit his knee against the table. Patton was standing in the hallway, just watching the two sides work. Logan cursed and made sure none of the pieces came apart while Virgil hissed in pain. Logan turned around to see what had startled Virgil and frowned.

“Morality, what are you doing up at this hour?”

“I was just about to ask you two the same question!” He beamed, clapping his hands together. Virgil just stared at him. It was weird how different Patton’s excitement was compared to Remus’. Virgil didn’t feel unnerved by Patton’s smile, nor did he have this creeping feeling of dread as the side hurried over to side down at the coffee table. “You’re doing the puzzle I got you! And Anxiety is with you!”

Logan nodded scooted over to give Patton some space. “Yes. Would you care to join us?” Logan asked.

“Can I?” Patton asked. Virgil noticed how overly eager side glanced at him, directing the question more towards him than Logan. Virgil coughed and shrugged.

“Whatever you want to do, doesn’t matter to me,” Virgil mumbled. Patton has a lot of sunshine in his personality, but he still was less annoying than the twins. Plus, Virgil knew he didn’t have to second guess everything Patton said, since he was Thomas’ morality, so that made being in his presence a little easier. 

Surprisingly enough, it was still quiet while they worked. Virgil thought that Patton was going to start asking questions or at least attempt small talk, so when he silently started picking up pieces and working them out for himself, Virgil couldn’t help but smile a little. He ducked his head down so the other two couldn’t see, but this was nice. He felt comfortable for the first time in a long time. Sure, he had his moments of contentment with Janus and Remus, but those were far and few between. This felt more normal, more right.

Not that Virgil would ever admit that out loud of course. Just something to note.

Around 4:45 am, Roman walked out to grab a drink of water. He stared at the group sitting around the coffee table, but said nothing as he made his way into the kitchen. On his way back though, he chose to sit down at the end of the table and wordlessly joined in. They were over half way done at that point. Virgil was exhausted and wanted to call it quits, but they were on a roll. With four of them working on it, he was sure they’d be able to finish it before Janus woke up at 8 am for his morning cup of coffee.

So he continued to work and tried not to think too hard about the fact that he currently felt comfortable in the presence of the other sides, while also mentally planning ways to avoid seeing his so-called friends.


	2. Dramatic Serenade

Today had been weird to say the least. What started off bad, Thomas’ anxiety causing him to choke up during an audition, followed by Logan showing up to debate everything Virgil had to say about the matter, turned out pretty good in the end. Logan said he didn’t mind Virgil’s company. Someone from the other group didn’t hate the fact that he was showing up to the talks with Thomas. A crazy thought crossed through Virgil’s mind, but he quickly shook it away. There was no way it would ever happen, no point in giving it any attention. Just because one of the other sides didn’t hate didn’t mean he could just-

Virgil put on his headphones and hit shuffle on his phone, turning the volume all the way up. Evanescence’s “My Last Breath” played at full blast and Virgil let out the breath he had been holding in. The loud music was a good distraction. Sitting down didn’t help though, so he stood up and started walking around his room, mindlessly putting little things away. Virgil couldn’t help but chuckle at himself. Normally he had to distract himself from overwhelming negative thoughts. He never had to distract himself from positive thoughts before. It was a weirdly nice change of pace. 

The song switched over and Virgil realized he had run out of things to put away. With nothing left in his room to keep himself busy, he decided to grab a bite from the kitchen. No one else should be in there at this time in the evening, so Virgil left his room and headed down the hall, trying to remember what they even had in the fridge. Patton had made cream of broccoli soup earlier, maybe there’d be leftovers.

Since his headphones were still playing at max volume, Virgil didn’t realize the other sides were in the living room until he walked in. Patton and Roman were standing in front of the tv holding microphones while Logan sat on the recliner, watching the other two. Virgil paused his music, trying to figure out what was going on.

The obnoxiously loud singing gave it away immediately. They had busted out the old karaoke machine and were singing along to “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” Virgil tried to quietly sneak around into the kitchen, but the song ended too soon. Patton turned around to take a drink of water and spotted Virgil, grinning instantly.

“Hey, kiddo!” He greeted. Roman spun around to see who else was in there while Logan glanced over and gave Virgil a small nod. “We were just doing some good ol’ karaoke to lift Roman’s spirits after today!”

“I see that,” Virgil smirked. “Karaoke seems pretty fitting. Could’ve really used the words in front of you earlier today, huh Princey?” 

Maybe that was a little too harsh. Roman glared at him and said nothing. Logan tried to hide his smile, coughing into his hand. Virgil bit his lip and scratched the back of his head.

“Sorry, today was my fault,” Virgil muttered. “Went a little too hard on the pre-audition nerves.”

Roman continued to glare until Patton elbowed him in the arm. He sighed dramatically. “It’s fine, I guess. Thomas was able to recover, so it wasn’t all bad.”

“Do you wanna join us, Anxiety?” Patton offered.

“Nah, I just came out to grab a bite to eat,” Virgil said, waving off the offer. He appreciated the thought, but he had no desire to sing. He’d just be sitting there awkwardly, not providing anything useful. Plus, he didn’t think Princey wanted him there anyway.

“Okay, well you’re more than welcome to eat in here and join us,” Patton smiled warmly. How he was so nice, Virgil couldn’t comprehend. Sure, he was Janus’ foil, but he didn’t think someone could be this kind. Virgil eyed Roman to see what if he was okay with Patton offering Virgil a chance to join them. Princey didn’t look too thrilled about the idea, but he shrugged.

“One more audience member wouldn’t hurt. Only having Logan here to clap isn’t very inspiring.”

Virgil nodded slowly, not expecting Roman’s response. “I’ll think about it.” He headed towards the kitchen, trying to process what just happened. First, Logan tells Virgil that he doesn’t mind his company. Then, Patton offers him a chance to hang out with them. And Roman wasn’t even mad about Patton’s offer! Virgil was about to hit play on his own music again to distract himself, but the tv started playing again. The music was slow and soothing, not something you’d expect from a karaoke night, but Roman was known to pull belt out a dramatic ballad every now and then. Virgil grabbed the leftover soup from the fridge while Roman started to sing from the living room.

_ “Go after your dreams, crazy as they may seem. Go chase all the stars in the sky.” _

Virgil smirked, pouring the soup into a microwave safe bowl. The song choice suddenly made sense. Still a little weird for karaoke, but whatever. 

_“Darling, stand on my shoulders, up where it's carefree, simple and good.”_

The microwave hummed and Virgil leaned against the counter, listening to the song. Princey’s voice was nice to listen to, much different from Remus’ preferred style. 

_ “If ever your wings, are tired and broken things, can't see through the tears in your eyes.” _

The microwaved beeped and Virgil grabbed his dinner. He debated on whether or not he should join the others in the living room. He didn’t hate listening to Princey sing, and it wasn’t like he was doing anything else. Janus and Remus normally stayed in their rooms or the back den when all of the others were in the living room. 

_ “Go after your dreams, as crazy as they may seem. Go chase all the stars in the sky.” _

Virgil made his way back into the living room and stood in the doorway. Patton was sitting on the couch, watching Roman’s performance in awe. Virgil couldn’t see Logan’s face, but he assumed he was also impressed.

_ “Baby, I'll be paving the runway, 'cause I know that one day you're gonna fly. I know that one day you're gonna fly.” _

The music faded and Roman lowered the microphone, smiling to himself. Patton started clapping loudly, standing up to show his support. Logan was clapping too, albeit more of a golf clap. Virgil held his soup bowl in one hand and started snapping, honestly impressed with Roman’s performance. It may have just been living room karaoke, but he did great nonetheless.

The sound of Virgil’s snaps caught Roman’s attention and he looked over, shocked at Virgil actually stuck around. He quickly shook off his surprise though and gave a dramatic bow to his little living room audience.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said. Patton walked over to take his turn while Virgil took a seat on the couch. Roman sat on the other end of the couch and watched Virgil, still a little confused.

“I know you said you serenade yourself in the mirror after a long day, but that was honestly impressive,” Virgil admitted, trying to ease the tension between them. The others were doing this to help Roman out after his bad day. He didn’t want Princey to think he was here to ruin that.

Ruin it even more than he already had, at least.

Roman hesitated before nodding slowly. “Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say, Anxiety.”

Virgil just hummed and took a bite of his soup. Patton chose his song and suddenly the living room was full of music again. It was funny how this was what Virgil had been trying to distract himself from earlier. Instead of thinking too hard on it, he decided to appreciate the moment while it lasted and listened as Patton’s singing suddenly filled the mind palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paving the Runway by JJ Heller is one of my favorite songs on Roman’s playlist. I highly recommend giving it a listen to if you haven’t already (Roman’s entire playlist is one of my favorites honestly).


	3. Cookies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so people understand where these chapters fall in regards to the episodes in case it’s not clear:  
> Chapter 1 takes place after “Losing My Motivation.”  
> Chapter 2 takes place after “Am I Original?”  
> And this one, chapter 3 takes place after “Growing Up.”  
> (And as I’m typing this I realized all of these take place after their name reveals).

Being on the same side as Princey earlier had certainly been an experience. Logan and Virgil had been seeing eye to eye on more issues, but it was rare that Roman sided with them. It hadn’t been fun going against Patton, but in the end it all worked out with Thomas finding a good balance between all of them.

Them. Huh. Virgil had always considered himself as an outsider sitting in on the group. Now though, between Remus being mad at him for siding with his twin, Janus growing more condescending each day, and Virgil managing to get along with the majority of the other group... well, maybe he wasn’t really an outsider anymore. 

Virgil shook his head. One good day didn’t mean anything. Or at least, it didn’t immediately mean anything. Stuff like this didn’t change over night. Plus, he spent the majority of the time disagreeing with Patton. The father figure probably wasn’t happy with him. Virgil sighed and headed into the den, not wanting to be alone in his room, but also not wanting to intrude on the other sides’ space. Virgil slid open the den door to find Janus on the loveseat reading a book. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled at Virgil. 

“Welcome back, Virgil,” Janus greeted. “Care to join me?”

Virgil said nothing as he closed the door behind him and took a seat on the couch facing the loveseat. Janus set his book aside and folded his hands in his lap.

“You’ve been spending so much time with your new friends, I had assumed you forgot all about little old Remus and me,” Janus pouted. Virgil frowned, not trusting a word that the snake said for a minute.

“Not my fault Pat is super friendly and keeps on inviting to join in whatever activity they’re up to,” Virgil shrugged off.

Janus raised an eyebrow at the nickname and Virgil winced, not meaning to sound so comfortable with the others. 

“Yes, Patton is very friendly, isn’t he?” Janus hummed. “A little too friendly if you ask me. I don’t buy it.”

Virgil scoffed. “Says the personification of deceit.”

“I’m being serious here, Virgil,” Janus frowned. “I’m only trying to look out for you.”

“Yeah right.”

“Yes, I’m deceit, but I’m also self preservation,” Janus sighed. “What was that argument you made the other day? You had a debate with Mr. Know-it-all. Oh!” He exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “He’s probably just being nice because he feels bad. But eventually, that’ll get boring.”

Virgil’s hands tightened into fists. He regretted not staying in his room. He hated it when Janus used his own logic against him. He had a point though. Virgil hadn’t really done anything to warrant Patton’s kindness. 

“No, see, Patton is literally the opposite of you. He’s honest, kind, and doesn’t piss me off every time I walk into a room with him,” Virgil snapped.

“Everyone has a hidden agenda, Verge,” Janus said. “You think you’re special because the others are suddenly okay with you? The second you slip up, they’re going to go right back to thinking you’re the villain. Heck, they might even still consider you the villain and just pity you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“You talk so much about this hidden agenda, why don’t you go ahead and fill me in on yours,” Virgil scoffed.

Janus smiled and placed his hand over his chest. “Now, Virgil. If I told you, it wouldn’t be hidden anymore.”

“We’re done here, I don’t have to listen to this,” Virgil snapped, standing up. He didn’t know why he even stuck around that long. Janus was so full of it.

“Virgil,” Janus sighed. “Something’s going to happen between you guys. If you burn your bridges here, you’ll have nowhere to go when that happens. Remus and I don’t hate you, Virgil. You think we’re against you, I understand, you’re anxiety. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and put all your chips down on them.”

“It may not be perfect over there, but it’s better than being here,” Virgil glared. He turned to storm out, fed up with Janus. Besides, even if what he said was in any way true, Virgil would rather be in a weird limbo state, not part of either group instead of spending more time with Janus. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Janus said right before Virgil managed to slam the den door shut. He started marching towards his room, planning on blasting music and hiding under his covers until he could forget about that whole conversation. Why didn’t he leave the second he saw Janus was in the room? Why had he stayed and let that snake get inside his head like that? 

Right as Virgil was reaching for his door, he paused. There was a loud screech that came from the kitchen followed by a hard crash. Virgil stepped away from his room and headed towards the kitchen instead, wanting to make sure no one got hurt. The closer he got, the louder the sound of laughter got.

“What the heck are they doing?” Virgil muttered to himself. Cutting through the living room, Virgil stood in the kitchen entrance and immediately understood what was going on.

Standing in front of him was Roman, his face covered in flour. There was a rolling pin laying on the floor, and Patton was hunched over with laughter. Logan was trying to hide his own amusement while he cleaned off the counter of the excess flour. No one had noticed Virgil, so he could still leave.

“What are you guys doing?” He asked. So much for leaving.

Patton looked up and smiled brightly. Roman wiped the flour off of his eyes so he could see who walked in. Logan looked over and nodded.

“Anxiety!” Patton welcomed. “We’re making cookies!”

“We’re trying to make it up to Patton for not listening to any of his points regarding what’s best for Thomas earlier,” Logan explained. 

“I see,” Virgil nodded. “And the flour on Princey’s face?”

“The bag fell!” Roman snapped, still trying to get his face clean. 

“Got it,” Virgil chuckled. “I just came in to make sure no one was hurt. I’ll leave you all to your cookie making-“

“You want to join us?” Patton asked, cutting him off.

“You were on our side against Patton earlier, so you have to make it up to him too,” Roman pointed out, gesturing to himself and Logan.

“Aww, Roman, I said you guys don’t have to make it up to me! This is just for fun,” Patton said, smiling softly. 

“Another set of hands wouldn’t hurt,” Logan said. 

Virgil took a second to realize what was happening. This was exactly what Janus said wouldn’t happen. Virgil had offered to leave and now all three of them wanted him to stay and help. Sure, it was supposed to be a sort of apology to Patton for earlier, but still. They wanted him there with them.

“Sure, I don’t have anything else to do,” Virgil shrugged. “What kind of cookies are we making?”

“I’m thinking one batch of sugar, one batch of chocolate chip,” Patton said. He handed Virgil the recipe cards so he could look over them. “The sugar ones we can decorate later once they cool down, and the chocolate chip ones we can eat while we wait for the sugar ones to cool down!”

“Smart,” Virgil hummed. “Alright, what do you need me to do?”

And that’s how Virgil found himself three hours later sitting on the living room floor with flour on his hoodie and a chocolate chip cookie in his hand while Patton brought in drinks for everyone. Roman was stretched out on the couch and Logan was leaned back slightly in the recliner. Patton took a seat on the couch next to Roman and grabbed the tv remote. He looked around at everyone and smiled.

“Parks and Rec anyone?”


	4. I usually go and sit on a surface that isn't meant to be sat on, because when tomorrow comes, I will be faced with even more challenges

Virgil had been on the roof for an hour, just staring at the sky. He wanted to savor this moment. It would be awhile before he’d get a view like this again. If his plan was going to work, then certain things had to be sacrificed. As much as he was going to miss this, he hated getting in Thomas’ way more. The song playing from his phone faded out and a new one started playing.

_ We're not the same, dear, as we used to be. The seasons have changed and so have we. _

“You’re so dramatic, Virgil.”

Virgil lifted his head slightly to find Janus and Remus climbing up onto the roof. He held his tongue, wanting to tell them off, but he was curious to see what exactly they were up to.

“What do you want?” Virgil asked. Janus took a seat next to him while Remus sat down by Virgil’s feet. 

“You’re rocking the boat, Virgil,” Janus said, ignoring Virgil’s question. 

Virgil sat up and scoffed, tired of hearing Janus say that. “Don’t worry, I’m jumping ship tomorrow.”

“We know,” Janus hummed.

“Then what are you doing here?” Virgil asked again.

“What, we’re not allowed to check up on our old friend?” Remus smirked.

“We’re not friends.”

Neither of them looked hurt or even shocked by Virgil’s bold declaration. He had been growing apart from them for some time now, but he never outright claimed to have stopped being their friend. Despite that, both Janus and Remus didn’t seem upset. 

“We know,” Janus said. “Just wanted to figure out what exactly your hidden agenda was here,” he chuckled, referencing back to their conversation from a few weeks ago.

“I don’t have a hidden agenda,” Virgil sighed. “I just don’t want to hold Thomas back anymore. He could be doing so much more if I just stopped speaking up every time he tried to step out of his comfort zone.”

“True,” Remus agreed.

Janus kicked the Duke’s arm and glared at him. Virgil smiled weakly at the interaction. It had been a long time since the three of them last sat together like this. Virgil would be lying if he said he didn’t miss it, but he also knew he couldn’t go back, not really. He was ducking out tomorrow, but even if he wasn’t, he would still rather be around the others than Janus and Remus. But they had their moments.

“We’re not here to tell you you’re doing the right thing or not,” Janus said.

“I think you’re doing the right thing,” Remus said, countering Janus’ statement. “You leaving will just make it easier for me to get ideas up to the big man himself.”

“Remus we’ve been over this,” Janus groaned. “Patton would never green light any of your ideas! If you want to contribute more, we have to go with my plan!”

“But yours is taking so long!”

“Did you guys come up here just to argue?” Virgil asked. 

“I wanted to see if I could scare you and make you fall off, but J-anus vetoed that plan,” Remus pouted.

“If you call me that one more time I will kick you off the roof myself,” Janus threatened.

“If this is your way of trying to convince me to stay, gotta be honest, you’re doing a pretty bad job.”

“Have you been ignoring everything I’ve said so far?” Remus asked.

Virgil nodded. “Yeah, I try to tune you out the majority of the time.”

“Speaking of tunes,” Janus said, cutting in. “Why the depressing music? You don’t have anything a little more chipper?”

“So far, Remus has agreed with my plan to leave, you two have fought, and now you insult my music tastes,” Virgil listed out. “I came up here to enjoy the view before I lock myself in my room for who knows how long. If you two are going to ruin that, just go.”

“Yes, we’ll leave, because you totally don’t want company on your last day out and about for who knows how long,” Janus scoffed. 

“Not if it’s you two.”

“Yet, we’re the only two that showed up,” Janus said. “If you really want us to go, fine, just say the word.”

“If you really want me to stay, then just say the word,” Virgil snapped back.

“I don’t want you to duck out,” Janus admitted.

Well that wasn’t the answer Virgil was expecting. Before he could reply, Janus held up his hand to stop him.

“Don’t take that the wrong way. As Thomas’ self preservation, I think you’re being really stupid here,” Janus explained. “You leaving is going to make my job so much harder, especially since I’m not directly involved. Yes, you hold Thomas back, and that’s annoying, but if you leave, he’s not going to have that little voice in the back of his mind warning him about potentially dangerous situations.”

“Then get involved!” Virgil argued. “I just started showing up one day, it’s not that hard!”

Janus sighed. “Thomas thinks he’s a completely honest person.”

“That’s your own fault, Mr. I Want to Work in the Shadows,” Remus smirked. 

“Shut up,” Janus hissed. “Thomas thinking he’s an honest person makes it harder for me to get directly involved. Plus, with Patton there keeping him on the honest track, it’d be near impossible for me to get any of my points across.”

“Welcome to my world,” Virgil sighed. 

“But you don’t want to get your points across,” Janus pointed out.

“Exactly. Hence why I’m leaving,” Virgil nodded. “Even if I did stay, I wouldn’t stay with you two.”

“You prefer those boring, self-righteous dorks to us?” Remus asked.

“Duh,” Virgil scoffed.

“Then why don’t you stay with them instead of ducking out?” Janus asked.

Virgil sighed and hugged his knees to his chest. “The issue isn’t them, it’s me. I’m the one keeping Thomas from doing anything. All of my fears go against logic, my nerves keep Princey from effectively doing his job, and Patton... well, he’s too nice to say anything, but I know he’s not a fan of the negative thinking I bring to the table.”

“So you’re leaving then tomorrow? For good?” Janus asked.

“Yep,” Virgil said, popping the ending. He laid back down and stared back up at the sky. “Sorry that your efforts were for naught.”

Virgil expected Janus and Remus to get up and leave after that since they didn’t get the ending they wanted. He was surprised to hear that Janus wanted Virgil to stick around, albeit for selfish reasons. Him leaving would make Janus’ job harder, which honesty just incentivized Virgil to leave more. 

Without adding anything else to the conversation, Janus and Remus both laid down on the roof. Virgil glanced at both of them, confused.

“Uh, what are you guys doing?” He asked.

“Well if this is the last time we’re gonna see you in awhile, might as well go out on a good note,” Janus shrugged.

“This doesn’t make us friends,” Virgil clarified.

“We know, edge-lord,” Remus hummed.

The three of them laid there, just watching the clouds roll by in silence. It was strange, Virgil hadn’t felt this at ease around Janus and Remus in awhile. He hated to admit it, but Janus was right, he didn’t want to be alone on his last day present. As much as Virgil wished the others would’ve shown up instead, this almost felt more right. Everything came full circle, him starting and ending in Janus and Remus’ little group. Even if they weren’t friends, they understood each other to an extent. As they laid there, the song on Virgil’s phone faded out and the new one started playing.

_ Hope dangles on a string, like slow-spinning redemption, winding in and winding out. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ain’t the happiest note to go out on, I’m sorry for that. The happy ending happens in Accepting Anxiety parts 1 & 2, so if you want the happy ending, I’d recommend going and rewatching those. 
> 
> The two songs I referenced were “The Ice Is Getting Thinner” by Death Cab for Cutie and “Vindicated” by Dashboard Confessional, both of which are on Virgil’s playlist. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading 💚 (And don’t worry, next up I have something a little fluffier planned to make up for not giving this the most upbeat ending)

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone’s confused about why Virgil knows everyone else’s name despite Logan’s being the only one revealed at this time, it was implied by Patton in Accepting Anxiety Part 2 that all of the sides knew the first 3’s names, but the ‘dark sides’ names were a secret (at least Virgil and Janus’. No one seemed surprised when Remus said his name in his episode besides Thomas). Hope that explanation makes sense!


End file.
